Microsoft E3 Press Conference Review

Great

So now that we are a little over a month removed from the Microsoft E3 Press Conference, how did Xbox stack up? Let review it!

So why review now after a month has passed? Simple. We didn’t want to get caught up in the hype of all the news being thrown out at us. We wanted to take our time and process it all. As you know, E3 can send you into game overload.

Microsoft presented its annual E3 press conference on June 13th. Being a top gaming platform, they have to bring their ‘A’ game each year to sway gamers to use their consoles and other devices.

Presentation

As we all have heard before, make your first impression your best impression. Xbox did exactly that. Presenters took the stage one after another, introducing game after game. As a gamer, there is nothing we want more than to see actual game play. For the most part, Microsoft delivered on that. One of the things that Xbox does extremely well is create a vibrant stage from which they present. The lighting makes it feel more like you are at a concert than at a press conference.

Games

Of course, a great presentation is nothing without the games right? Xbox bought plenty to the stage this year. Watching live gameplay with titles such as Tekken 7 and Final Fantasy XV. Microsoft also had live gameplay of their exclusives such as Halo Wars 2, Gears Of War 4, and ReCore.

Xbox also used its platform to give its Independent Developers (ID) some love. We Happy Fewwas one of the games they showed off. The game was a little too weird for me, however, Xbox seemed to spend almost five minutes to demo it which is more time than some of the premium games received.

Special features

Microsoft informed that they are adding more live servers to make their network more reliable. The Xbox One will also be bringing live music to the Xbox to allow users to play their music while enjoying a game. But of course, the platform giant didn’t stop there. In the coming months, Xbox Live will add ‘Cortana’, ‘Xbox Clubs’, ‘Looking For Group’, and ‘Xbox Arena’ .

The biggest special feature may have been the announcement of ‘Xbox Play Anywhere’. With Play Anywhere, you can purchase a compatible game and play it on Xbox One, switch over to your Windows 10 PC and pick up where you left off. Games such as Forza Horizon 3, ReCore and ScaleBound will be amongst the games you can use this feature with.

Head of Platform Engineering, Mike Ybarra informed;

“Competitive gaming has always been at the core of Xbox. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or casual gamer we want to unleash competitive gaming for everyone. We are excited to announce Arena for Xbox Live. It’s the easiest way to discover, register and compete, all in one place.”

Hardware

Xbox announced some pretty good hardware this year. You can now create and customize your own Xbox One controller with the introduction of the ‘Xbox DesignLab’. The controllers start at around $80 bucks. Microsoft also announced the Xbox One S, with a slimmer, sleeker design built for 4K TV’s.

But that was nothing compared to the last hardware presentation. Microsoft announced their upcoming next-gen console: ‘Project Scorpio’. Phil Spencer of Xbox informed that he believes that it will be the most powerful console ever built.

Summary

Xbox has some great games coming out soon. Time will tell how they will stack up against their top rival PlayStation. While games such as ReCoreand Gears Of War 4 show promise, games such as We Happy Fewscare me just a bit.

I believe Microsoft shined the most with the announcement of not only one, but two new consoles. We will know in August if the announcement of ‘Project Scorpio’ hurt Xbox One S sales. It was confirmed afterwards that the news even caught PlayStation executives off guard.

In my opinion, Xbox came in and left everything they had to offer on the stage. I would have liked to see more enticing exclusive games. However, the feature games and console feature really helped balance the scales.

With the Microsoft conference a month past, how do you feel about the conference? Was it what you expected? Let us know on Facebook.

You can also catch the Conference in its entirety by clicking on the header at the top of this page. Video has been provided by IGN